After a decade spent working as a storyboard artist on pics such as “The Lego Batman Movie” and “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,” Emily Dean is set to make her feature directorial debut. The Chinese-American animation vet and writer-director will helm Sony Pictures Animation’s “Tao,” Deadline reports.
Currently in early development, “Tao” is a female-led sci-fi adventure set in China. Tonya Kong (“Arrow”) is attached to pen the script.
Dean won an Australian Academy Award for “Forget Me Not,” a 2011 animated short about a girl learning to cope with her mother’s aging, dementia, and death, for which she served as director, writer, producer, editor, and DP.
According to her official website, Dean started drawing at age three, making films at age 12, and working professionally as a storyboard artist for TV commercials at age 15. She offers a list of lessons she’s learned on the site, including, “Don’t forget to dream and love what you do. Keep a sense of joy and childlike wonder always. Your heart will thank you for it.”
A new study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative revealed there were 197 directors on the top 120 animated films from 2007-2018 — and just four of them were women. Among these four helmers, there was only one woman of color.
Upcoming animated films by and about women include “Frozen 2,” for which a new trailer just dropped. The pic sees sisters Anna and Elsa embarking on a mission to learn the truth about their pasts. Jennifer Lee co-directed the original “Frozen” and its sequel, set to bow November 22. Paloma Baeza is signed on to direct an animated movie about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo for the UK’s Lupus Films and Universal Content Group.
